The present invention relates generally to medical appliance securing devices and more particularly to a novel medical appliance securing device.
Various medical devices, or portions thereof, are shaped as generally tubular members. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to, catheters, thermometers, intravenous needles, and various types of electrical wires. There is often a need to secure such devices to or near a patient's body so that the devices can appropriately function. For example, catheters, which are generally long, tubular, flexible conduits used to transport various types of fluids to and from the body of a patient, are often laterally and/or longitudinally fixed to the body of a patient to ensure proper placement and functioning of the catheter, as well as to offer some degree of comfort and mobility for the patient. In particular, some medical procedures involving the use of catheters require the application of a tensile force, known as traction, to the catheter, thus making it particularly necessary to firmly secure the catheter in its longitudinal direction.
To secure a catheter or other medical appliance in the manner indicated above, practitioners have often used one or more strips of conventional, medical-grade, adhesive tape to secure a length of the medical appliance directly to the patient's skin. However, this method has its shortcomings as the adhesive tape tends to become loose over time. In addition, each time that one wishes to adjust the placement of the medical appliance or each time that one wishes to remove the medical appliance from the patient, the adhesive tape must be removed from the skin of the patient, thereby frequently causing irritation and discomfort to the patient.
Consequently, various types of medical appliance securing devices have been devised in an effort to provide the desired restraint and to overcome the disadvantages associated with the use of strips of adhesive tape. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,748, inventor Johnson, which issued Aug. 28, 1979, and which is incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed a simple, easily applied, catheter securing device. The catheter securing device includes two main parts having adhesive thereon for temporary attachment to the limb of a patient. In addition, the device includes a narrow bridge connecting the two main parts. The narrow bridge is also provided with adhesive and is foldable on itself to form a double member. Fasteners, such as snap fasteners or VELCRO® hook and loop fasteners, are positioned on the narrow bridge in such a way that the catheter tube may be releasably held by the narrow bridge in a desired orientation to a patient.
Another example of a medical appliance securing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,700, inventor Tollini, which issued Dec. 11, 1990, and which is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, there is disclosed a securing device for securing to a patient's skin or to a support, a medical device such as tubing, a catheter, an intravenous needle, or the like, including an elongated tape having base portions and a central tab formed integrally therewith, pressure-sensitive tape on the base portions and on an exposed window of the tab, and hook and pile fastener portions on opposite sides of the exposed adhesive on the tab and on the base portion facing the exposed adhesive. A method of fabricating a securing device consisting of the steps of providing a strip of pressure-sensitive tape with release paper thereon, cutting out a window in a central portion of the strip of tape, removing release paper from the central portion of the pressure-sensitive tape, folding the central portion on itself to cause the facing exposed pressure-sensitive adhesive parts to adhere to each other and to provide a window of pressure-sensitive tape defined by the window which was cut out with the remainder of the strip forming a base, and securing hook and pile fastener material on opposite sides of the window of pressure-sensitive tape on the tab and on the portion of the securing device adjacent thereto which constitutes a base.
Still another example of a medical appliance securing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,322, inventors Bowen et al., which issued Sep. 15, 1992, and which is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, there is disclosed a securing device for laterally and longitudinally securing generally tubular members having various diameters to any desired location on the surface of a patient's skin or other support. The device comprises an anchoring patch having one surface coated with adhesive for bonding the device to a patient's skin or some other support. A retaining tab is connected to the anchoring patch and contains an aperture such that the retaining tab may be wrapped around the circumference of the tubular member, inserted through the aperture, and firmly secured to the anchoring patch through the use of fastening means.
Still yet another example of a medical appliance securing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,146, inventors Johnson et al., which issued Apr. 19, 1994, and which is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, there is disclosed a device for securing a generally tubular member of a medical appliance to a support surface. In one embodiment, the device comprises an anchoring patch, the anchoring patch including a first segment and a second segment and having a top surface and a bottom surface. The bottom surface is coated with an adhesive for attaching the anchoring patch to the support surface. A pair of flexible retaining tabs extend from and interconnect the inner edges of the first and second segment, the flexible retaining tabs being of sufficient length to helically wrap around the circumference of the generally tubular member and contact the top surface of the anchoring patch. First fasteners are secured to the free ends of the flexible retaining tabs and a pair of complementary fasteners are spaced outwardly relative to the tabs and are secured to the top surface of said anchoring patch. A generally tubular member may be retained in the device either by helically wrapping the flexible retaining tabs around the circumference of the generally tubular member and then coupling together the fasteners or by positioning the generally tubular member between the flexible tabs and the complementary fasteners and looping the retaining tabs over the generally tubular member and then coupling together the fasteners.
Still yet another example of a medical appliance securing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,660, inventor Russo, which issued Jul. 16, 2002, and which is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, there is disclosed a tube holder and a method for manufacturing the tube holder. The tube holder includes a base for attachment to a surface, for example, a patient's skin, and a tab for securing the tube to the base. According to one embodiment, the tube holder includes a first layer having first and second sides and first and second sections, and a second layer having first and second sides and first and second sections. The first sides of the first and second layers are attached to one another in the first sections of the first and second layers, the second sections of the first sides of the first and second layers are unattached to one another, and the first sections of the first and second layers form the tab and the second sections form the base. The tube holder also includes a third layer attached to the second side of the first layer for receiving a tube.
Still a further example of a medical appliance securing device is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0041233 A1, inventor Bowen, which was published Feb. 23, 2006, and which is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent application, there is disclosed an apparatus for releasably securing an appliance on or adjacent a person. The apparatus includes a base and a flap or tongue attached to the base. The tongue may be wrapped around portions of an appliance and then attached to the base to releasably secure the appliance to the base. The base is formed from a first layer of material. The tongue is formed from a second layer of material disposed on the first layer. One or more of the layers is formed from medical grade adhesive tape or any other type of generally flexible material compatible with placement on a person's skin. Some embodiments may include multiple tongues to releasably secure one appliance or multiple appliances to a single base.
An example of a commercially available medical appliance securing device is the CATH-SECURE™ medical appliance securing device, which is available from the present assignee, M.C. Johnson Company, Inc. (Naples, Fla.). The CATH-SECURE™ medical appliance securing device, which corresponds generally to the device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,748, is formed by cutting a sheet of DURAPORE® surgical tape into two anchoring patches interconnected by a narrow bridge. (DURAPORE® surgical tape, which is commercially available from 3M Corporation (St. Paul, Minn.), is a tape consisting of a woven, polyester cloth backing having an acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive applied to one surface thereof.) The narrow bridge is then folded onto and adhered to itself to form a double member retaining tab. VELCRO® hook and loop fasteners are then adhered to the double member retaining tab at locations such that a medical tube may be releasably held by the retaining tab in a desired orientation to a patient.
Although the aforementioned CATH-SECURE™ medical appliance securing device and other similar commercially available devices function reasonably well under dry conditions, the present inventors have observed that, under very humid or wet conditions, the VELCRO® hook and loop fasteners tend to peel away from the DURAPORE®-constructed retaining tab and/or anchoring patch to which they are adhered. As a result, these types of medical appliance securing devices typically cannot be worn by a patient while bathing unless appropriate steps are taken to prevent the device from coming into contact with water. As can be appreciated, such steps may be very inconvenient to a patient.